Thanksgiving Thoughts

In glancing at my past post on Thanksgiving I found it was written a year ago today. We are two days away from the big family Thanksgiving gathering, but it has already started with my youngest daughter's family arrival yesterday. Unfortunately some of them had the flu before coming and our daughter has it now. We are all grateful that they are here and she can take some time to recover while we watch our grandsons. Hopefully none of the rest of us comes down with it. It seems to last 24 hours. On Saturday, four days away, we have scheduled a short train ride on the Holiday Express and the tickets are nonrefundable and nonexchangeable. Dinner can be postponed, but not this event.


My mother, who passed away in June, will surely be missed this year. One thing she always wanted to do was to take her great grandchildren on this train ride. My mom and her husband collected trains and even had large indoor and outdoor train layouts. They took some train trips locally and truly enjoyed their outings. Family events, whenever they take place, can help to create memories that will be shared for years to come.

What kinds of pictures and mementos do you have that remind you of these types of events?

Our top events for my birth family include a trip to Florida including Disney World, Sea World, St. Augustine, Cape Canaveral, and other tourist attractions; California including Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm; Utah including Temple Square and other local sites; Wyoming with Yellowstone Park; Idaho at Craters of the Moon Naitonal Park;
Oregon, mostly the coast and our cabin at Lincoln City. All of these trips were by car and for a time a travel trailer. The travel trailer bit the dust while driving on the freeway in California, disconnecting from the station wagon and crossing eight lanes without hitting anything else and disintegrated on the other side of the freeway. Motels then became the accomodations for all our other trips.

Our daughter and her family flew this time and we gained a lot of family time in the process. The three grandsons from Wyoming have already spent a lot of time with our two granddaughters who live here. Now we just hope to all stay healthy for the remainder of their trip. There are a lot of fun things that we would like to do, but being together is certainly the priority. Having our children together means so much to me.

Thinking of the pilgrims and the struggles they endured in those first  years helps us to reflect on the many blessings that we so enjoy. Some of our ancestors came in the 1630s from England, while others came from Germany, Denmark and Norway in the late 1800s. We celebrate them and their courage to leave their homelands for unknown trials that they would face. Most of them were blessed with their needs being met, often through hard work and perseverance. As we face our own challenges may we feel gratitude for the opportunities that we are blessed with. My prayer is that each of you will find peace in the process of reflection on family and friends who support you in meeting your challenges. May you also be blessed to create new memories and record them on this day.